Meanwhile,
Maxima, Vanessa, and Ramon have managed to take
shelter in an abandoned factory located near
downtown Southtown. Maxima wonders about the fate
of his friend, and thinks about the involvement
of Nests in all this. Suddenly, a noise is heard
behind them. When battle seemed unavoidable, it
came to a surprise that it was no other than
Benimaru and Shingo, with Lin and Seth along! It
seems that they, too, had been lured into the
abandoned factory. Nonetheless, reunion time is
cut short, since Ling's mercenaries have already
surrounded the building. With no other place to
run to, Benimaru suggests they should hide in a
huge room nearby. Ramon thinks everybody's crazy,
and Shingo protests based on the fact that they
would be trapped there. "It's better than
being slaughtered out here", Benimaru
replies. So, the 7 fighters head towards the dark
room....

At the
same time, in the Ikari Warriors' command room,
Heidern attempts to contact his best lieutenant,
Ralf Jones. Ralf is located far from the
designated location, which disturbs Heidern,
since the soldiers are already there, and they
will be needing all the help they can get (after
all, K' and Maxima did trash a whole unit of
mercenaries last year). Ling interrupts, and
says: "That will no longer be a
problem.". Heidern demands an explanation,
and Ling suggests that the soldiers located at
the factory should turn on the elevator, and then
activate the underground generator. Heidern is
left with even more doubts, and Ling continues:
"This way, we should be able to activate the
Zero Cannon.". Heidern recalls the name: a
satellite that had been launched in order to
detect and destroy the hideouts of the Nests
cartel, done by Ling prior to the mission.
Heidern reminds Ling that their only purpose is
to capture K' and Maxima, and investigate the
whereabouts of the Nests cartel. "Yes,
officially", says Ling with a sinister grin.
When Heidern is about to complain, he is
instantly held at gunpoint by Ling's soldiers!
"What kind of loony ideas do you have in
mind?", demands Heidern. "You don't
have to know anything", Ling laughs.
"You're just a mere spectator, and I...I am
the executor!".

Meanwhile,
in the abandoned factory, Maxima wonders why the
soldiers have stopped looking for them. When the
tension level has raised to pitch fever levels,
the roof begins to open. Much to the warriors'
surprise, they have been located underground! The
floor raises them to ground level, where they
find themselves inside an ancient temple, which,
in turn, turns out to be Ling's command center!
The fighters see with disbelief as Heidern and
his agents are held at gunpoint by Ling's
soldiers. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an ominous
figure surges in the middle of the room. Seth and
Vanessa are quite a bit surprised, which sparks
the attention of their teammates. The mysterious
shadow welcomes the fighters. Vaneesa shouts out:
"Commander! What is this all about?!".
His cover blown, the mystery person steps into
the light. It is Ling, but dressed in a more
extravagant fashion. Upon further inspection, it
turns out to be that Ling is, simply put, not
Ling at all! Heidern demands the fake Ling to
spit out his true name, and the false Ling gives
him the expected answer: Zero.

As it
turns out to be, Zero is a member of the Nests
cartel who had taken Ling's place by eliminating
him and using his cloning abilities to take on
his image. Zero was also the man responsible for
Krizalid's elimination last year, as the voice of
the ominous light. Consecuently, it is revealed
that Seth and Vanessa are also Nests' agents,
under the command of Zero. However, they had been
duped into bringing the strongest fighters of the
the last King of Fighters tournament, after their
separation. This turns Seth and Vanessa against
Zero for having used them as his pawns.
But
Seth and Vanessa own Zero a great deal, as the
had been infused with Zero's fighting power
enclosed in his DNA
. And Zero, no doubt,
had a truly fearsome power: his eerie aura could
be felt all around the temple, making the whole
walls shake beneath him!

Not
content with duping the fighters for his own
personal ambitions, Zero has an extra something
in store for the daring fighters. He now intends
to fight them so he can extract enough fighting
energy in order to charge up the Zero Cannon!
This is achieved via the underground generator,
which siphons the energy released in the main
chamber of the temple. The generator will then
transmit the data to the Zero Cannon in outer
space, and Zero can use it to destroy any
designated point on the face of the earth! "
So,
this must be the ultimate plan of Nests, huh?
",
mumbles Lin. "
Nests? That was just a
gimmick!
", growls Zero. "T
he
future of this world isn't Nests. It's me!
".
Seth gestures, and vows: "
This time,
you won't get away with your pitiful plans, you
filth!
".

Easier
said than done, as Zero soon proves to his
gullible guests. Ramon and Shingo are the first
two fighters to fall. They stood up bravely
against Zero, but due to his quick movements,
they proved to be no match for the crazed
commander. Another upsetting fact was that all
the energy of the fight would be used for the
Zero Cannon, so the brave warriors were a bit
more than reluctant about displaying their full
strength. Would they be responsible of the
downfall of society as we know it? Everyone had
that doubt in mind, as Ramon and Shingo get blown
away by Zero's quick skirt movements.

Benimaru
and Maxima now stand against the confident Zero.
They knew that this battle couldn't be won no
matter what, but there was no choice: it was kill
or be killed. Benimaru and Maxima begin to attack
Zero with everything they got, but Zero has some
more tricks up his sleeve: he now uses dark
shadow arts to sneak upon the heroes! These
sinister tricks soon pay their price, as Benimaru
and Maxima begin to get whacked by invisible
figures, and then followed up by Zero himself.
The battle was turning gruesome, until unexpected
help came.

Taking
Zero by surprise, Seth and Vanessa jump on their
former commander. Zero begins to feel the
incredible pressure of fighting both his enemies
AND his former allies. The noble fighters begin
to inflict damage on the pressured Zero, but Zero
attempts one last desperate trick: surrounding
himself with magnetic energy, Zero becomes a huge
damage void. Sucking in energy from every living
being in the room, and gathering it in his own
aura, Zero makes the finalists fly through the
air. After a few seconds, everyone falls flat.
Zero already brags his victory, until....

Suddenly,
Lin jumps from behind, and stabs Zero in the back
with his hand. Zero quickly makes short work out
of Lin, but Lin already gloats about his victory.
Zero doesn't understand what he means, but he
soon realizes another weird fact: someone has
just entered the room. Another challenger? Yes,
it's K'! However, K' is weak from his battle
against Kula. Zero bursts into laughter, and
taunts K': "How can you ever hope to defeat
me in such a battered state? You can't even deal
with your own soul!", brags Zero. But, when
Zero is about to proceed to finish K', he feels
his whole body getting weak. What is this all
about? It was Lin's doing: his stab in the back
had it's own share of poison, which had began to
make Zero feel the heat. With his remaining
strength, K' gathers the last ounces of his
flaming power, keeps it in his gloved hand, and
rushes directly at Zero. The inminent impact
makes the whole temple and it's surroundings to
shudder like no tomorrow.

K' begins
to help his partners and former friends. He
appears to have defeated Zero...or so he thinks.
In bad shape, a bruised and bittered Zero walks
up to his defeaters. He holds a trigger in hand
and a nasty smile on his face. "You're
doomed!", laughs Zero. "
Even if
you have defeated me, nothing can stop the Zero
Cannon now! Now vanish into the light of a new
world!
". Things get worse when the
world leaders receive the notice of Zero's
"capture"...by Ling. A decoy notice
that will take them by surprise. Zero presses the
trigger's button in order to fry the wounded
warriors with the Zero Cannon...but nothing
happens. The generator suddenly shuts down, and
Zero is more than confused by it. Out of the
blue, Zero is inmoblized by a strange force
around him. Inmediately after, two women appear
by Zero's side.

The two
femme fatales ( Foxy
&
Diana) approach Zero.
They are beautiful, yet deadly, women. The two
females silently seal Zero's fate. Traitors to
the Nests deserve no less than death. By
attempting to destroy his superiors with the Zero
Cannon, Zero himself has signed his own pact of
destruction. One of the women calls someone via a
radio transmittor. It is Kula, who is located
atop the Zero Cannon in outer space! Kula had
reprogrammed the Zero Cannon to not respond to
the main controls (in Zero's possession), and
activate it manually instead. Kula fires the Zero
Cannon, which is directly aimed at Zero's
position. Zero reels in fear and agony. The
surviving fighters are urged to escape from the
inminent impact. On their way out, though, the
battered heroes encounter two mysterious figures,
yet familiar in an odd way. Upon futher
inspection, they are no other than Kyo Kusanagi
and Iori Yagami! K' feels his blood boiling with
anxiety, but he knows he can't face Kyo in such
conditions. Kyo just smiles confidently, and
says: "
We'll take care of
Nests...you concentrate on escaping
".
"
Hmph...speak for youself, Kusanagi
slime
", grumbles Iori. "Don't
be such a bother, Yagami", says Kyo as he
runs his hand through his hair. "I know
you're about to enjoy yourself. Let's go!".
As Kyo runs to fight off the remaining Nests
agents, Iori slowly follows behind: "
Bah...the
gods don't bother to play with the ants.
"

The skies
of Southtown emit a blinding light, and suddenly,
there is a huge explosion, the shock effect
wiping out everything in its' path, like paper
dolls. The noise is unsurpassed. Metal, wood,
glass, and people fly around, as if swapped by an
incredible force. Minutes later, nothing can be
heard anymore...

As K' and
his friends emerge from among the rubble, the
sight that unfolds beyond their eyes couldn't be
more desolating. Everything, in shambles. Nothing
remains but a huge pile of ruins and destruction.
And with destruction, comes death. Corpses cover
the streets of what was once called as Southtown.
After being controlled by so many years by the
Nests cartel, the city of Southtown has suffered
its' inevitable fate: after having been build
upon the history of fighting, crime, and
bloodshed, the city of sins, Southtown, has
finally crumbled down to nothing. A city which
once strived upon the fight, has now died by it.

The
question about how many innocent people should
die is irrelevant, up until this point. The point
now, is that this tragedy should never repeat
itself. And one name remains unpunished: NESTS!